Need your help/advice with incorporating weightlifting into F1 (Proposed plan within)

Hi all,

Prior to my Foundation 1 purchase I was not doing any GST (and never have till now) but was doing strength training. I would like to continue it as my training partner is my best friend and i would be 'letting him down' (ha) but also just like hitting the barbell. If the best way to do F1 is drop weightlifting then tell me, as I am at a comfortable 'base strength' level in that i do over BW(bench) BW x 1.25 (squat) BW x 1.5(deadlift). Below is my proposed program. F1-1 is the more upper body day (done just as it is in the program, not saying specifics for copyright!) and F1-2 is the lower body day. I tried to pair the F1-1 day with an evening leg workout as to not go too mad on legs in one day.

Day                          AM             PM

Monday                  F1-2              X

Tuesday                 F1-1            Squat 8,5,5,3,3,3 Clean 5x5

Wednesday           F1-2             O.H Press 5x5, Weighted Pullups 5x5

Thursday               F1-1             Deadlift 8,5,5,3,3,3 Bentover row 5x5

Friday                       X                  X

Saturday                Usually work but could do F1-2 here if not working
Sunday                  Usually work but could do F1-1 here if not working

My schedule involves a full time college course. I work right after college till 9 on mon/friday and work most weekends 630-630.

So what are my goals? As i said before I am nearly happy with my barbell strength level, so this would in no way is my main goal. As far as muscle mass I am happy to gain some and hope to on this journey but again not the main goal. My goal is to embrace the GST lifestyle, make my way through F1 in a timely manner and move on to F2, F3, F4 all the while picking up some "flashy moves" once my foundation is solid.

Oh yeah and to prove to people that someone 6'6" can rock out gymnast style!

Thanks in advance GB community!

-Matt

Well, you've answered your own question, haven't you?  You say that your goal is to embrace the GST lifestyle - (not really sure what that actually means) - but if we define the the "GST Lifestyle" as simply working F1 and H1, well then, there you go, question answered.

But in all seriousness, if you want to lift weights in addition to F1 and H1 - go ahead and lift to your hearts content.

Personally, i think the foundation work is enough as far as strength training goes, if i really didn't want to stop lifting then i would just do one or two sets to maintain what i have, but things are gonna get intense as we move through the progressions, and we'll end up stupidly strong anyway if we follow the foundation series correctly  

I'd try inviting your buddy to join you in the F1 work. 

Personally I wouldn't do Foundation work on the weekend with that schedule; 6 workouts during the week would leave me wanting to recover.  

Thanks for the feedback guys

@Peter, yeah i was kinda looking for 'validation' i guess i dunno, ha. Just was wondering if anyone else did both and their experience

@Peekay, yeah i know as i get past the PE1 and further the workouts become more taxing muscularly rather than now them being a bit more about skill, as i have ZERO gymnastic skills

@Hari, yeah I would be wrecked in the long run... ill just stick to the 4

People have incorporated both into their lives, but as I always say, ramp it up slowly. Finding the balance is the hardest part.

You can train like that but you will need to monitor your recovery. A good option you might like is to keep the lower body weighted work and do F1 for everything else. The weighted lower body work will still be beneficial. Single leg squats will take you a good distance but only so far in the end. You'll need resistance anyway so squats and deadlifts will be great.

From where your upper body lifts are, as you continue through the foundation series, you will still increase on weights there as well most likely.

@Klaudius, yeah ramping up is a good idea, as even if i think i can handle it, within 2-3 weeks i could become overtrained

@Alex, I like that idea as I feel confident as i get more proficient at the moves they will definitely keep/improve my lifts and also that the leg work can still go ahead as SLS are only part the story!

That is an incredible amount of volume. You will be completely exhausted. Maybe try just cutting down the lifts to once a week and do foundation for the rest of the week. Do what you want to do. He will understand. Heck, maybe he'll try GST.

Alex Chubb said:

Single leg squats will take you a good distance but only so far in the end.

Depends if there's a kettlebell or barbell involved

I would stick to the barbell deadlift and squat only. The rest of listed excersises are more or less used in GST. You should choose an easy and simple strength program to combine it with F1. 3x3 or 5/3/1 or other useful and working programs

Has anyone tried deadlifting after a 60s arch hold?

After 5x60s hold without legs together I was able to pull easily 130kg five times. This will be my starting weigth with deadlift after my long trip around my country. Now I can only do the F1 and running

...

And it's still awesome!

Klaudius Petrulis said:

People have incorporated both into their lives, but as I always say, ramp it up slowly. Finding the balance is the hardest part.

I just want to point out here that while people are currently trying this out - F1 hasn't even been out for 2 months yet - so we don't really know how well they're handling this kind of volume - especially since F1 sort of "ramps up" quickly after a seemingly slow first month depending on where you start.  YMMV is all.

Newbie observation: Most wt lifters I've read/talked to use a 6 or 8 (10 to 12?) wk cycle. If you start lifting on a 4 wk mini cycle and deload every 4th at the same time as in F1, couldn't you reduce the chance of over training?

Feedback?

John105 said:

Newbie observation: Most wt lifters I've read/talked to use a 6 or 8 (10 to 12?) wk cycle. If you start lifting on a 4 wk mini cycle and deload every 4th at the same time as in F1, couldn't you reduce the chance of over training?

Feedback?

That's what you should be doing if you're going to add in weights at all. Deload weeks are for your body to rest and recuperate. Even then there is a chance you'll be over-training because F1 work may already be close to your personal limit. 

Just some input as I've been doing this for a couple of weeks now.

I've gotten to a point where my work capacity is pretty high.  I've been doing F1 (Mon/Thu) and H1 (Tue/Fri) along with my regular weight program the past two weeks.  Due to my flexibility I am at the beginning of the cycles, but I can tell you from looking ahead that running this with weightlifting will be very difficult as you progress forward.  I truly think at some point, and maybe that's as soon as a couple of months for me, I am going to have to pick a path: either Foundation or weight training.  The only thing I think you may be able to keep in is legs (and limited at that), because the volume is not that bad even at some of the more advanced F1 elements.

I have to admit... i was an over zealous noob! I have been doing deadlift/f. squat/OH Press but only at 3 working sets (once a week) and for an 'easier' 3-5 reps. I couldn't see myself doing any more and the OH Press will leave soon.

I am finding as well that the weightlifting workouts are a bit distracting and i think when i finally let them go I will be able to really advance in GST.

My only issue now is trying to find some supplementary mobility exercises as though i am keeping up, i see myself hitting a wall in further PEs and want to be ahead of the game. Anyone care to share their supplemented stretching/mobility?